Graphics

Jim's TV Graphic Guidelines:

These basic guidelines can help you avoid common pitfalls when designing TV graphics.

Technical:

• Use the safe text area. Remember that when you design graphics on a computer, much of what you see around the edges of your composition will be cut off by the frame around the TV display. Even if your text and other foreground elements fit inside of the safe text area, make sure they have a little extra room around the edges to "breath".

Related to this is the next rule:

• Avoid having boxes or squares end near the edge of the screen. Place the edges well within the safe text area or have them run off the edge of the screen. On a similar note avoid using a frame within a frame. If you must do this, make sure your inner frame easily fits inside of the safe text area.
• Avoid highly saturated colors- they will bleed and can contain noise. Use NTSC-friendly colors- these aren't very saturated. Photoshop has an NTSC filter you can apply to a layer or a flattened composition.
• Use contrast to draw attention to the important elements. Think in terms of relative brightness (try thinking in black and white) when separating foreground and background elements. Don't rely on color to differentiate foreground and background elements- use contrast (brightness) instead. If you have an NTSC monitor hooked up to your computer, try turning the color all the way down so you can see your image in black and white. You should still be able to see the graphics well.

So in other words:

Use either light letters on a dark background or dark letters on a light background.

For keyed IDs and lower thirds, always do something to make your text stand out from the background (background box, edge stroke/border, drop shadow, etc.) If you don't you can easily lose white letters against a light shirt.

• Avoid thin, 1-pixel horizontal lines and thin or delicate text. Because of the interlaced video display, thin horizontal lines or small picture elements will flicker on and off.
• Leave text up long enough to read and then a little more (1.5 times the time it takes to read it is a good rule).

Composition:

• Lay out elements using tried and tested composition techniques. Most of the classic principles of visual design work quite well when applied to TV graphics. In other words you can use the "Rule of Thirds" or any of your other favorite classic aesthetic guidelines.
• Make sure your background doesn't interfere with the message. Delicate or ornate text or foreground elements need simple backgrounds. Complex backgrounds need bold and simple foreground elements. Your background and foreground need to work together.
• Don't think like a word processor - in left, right or center justified paragraphs. Instead break down your message into separate elements. For instance if you're doing a promo graphic you might have a title, a TV personality, a time, and a network. Think of each of these items as a separate foreground element that you can position and manipulate.
• Try not to use plain, bare text, unless you are going for the stark look or simply conveying information (e.g. displaying a quote on screen). Do something to make your text interesting or it will look plain. However, avoid relying on Photoshop's layer style effects to jazz up your text. These are overused and easily identifiable. If you want to do something interesting with your text, try rendering (rasterizing) it first. Then you can apply filters or manipulate it in interesting ways. It's often nice to try to make your text look more organic and to give it substance.
• If you have complex information to convey to the viewer, start the info in the top left & draw the viewer's eye into the frame. Think of the order in which viewers should interpret the info.
• Use as few colors as possible. Find a good color (hue) and try using variations of its brightness, and saturation. Watch some of your favorite network graphics. You'll see that most are made using just a few colors. that work well together.
• For keyed titles and captions, think of the video as part of your graphic. Place your text and other elements to coincide with the existing video.
• Add depth wherever possible. Try overlapping elements, shadows, skew (a 3D effect) to show depth.

Making Graphics for TV:

If you are using Adobe Photoshop, start by selecting the proper template for whatever system you are working in. Below are a few popular sizes.

Standard Definition

• DV (4:3) 720 x 480
• DV (16:9) 720 x 480
• D1 (4:3) 720 x 486
• D1 (16:9) 720 x 486
• D1 (4:3 square pixel) 720 x 540
• D1 (16:9 square pixel) 864 x 486

High Definition (HDTV is always 16:9)

• 720 (HDV & most other 720p formats EXCEPT DVCPro) 1280 x 720
• 720 (DVCProHD) 960 x 720
• 1080 (HDV) 1440 x 1080
• 1080 (DVCProHD) 1280 x 1080
• 1080 (full) 1920 x 1080 (Use this for the Chyron in Studio 5)

The preset templates in Photoshop ensure that your graphic is the proper size, is in the right color mode (RGB), give you safe text and action guides, and will set your resolution for 72 dpi.

• Once you make your Photoshop graphic, store it with all of the layers intact in a safe place.
• Save a single-layer copy (PICT, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, etc.) to import into your desired video editing application.

Terms you should know:

• HSB - Stands for hue, saturation and brightness. Used to identify a color. Hue, (sometimes thought of as tint) is the actual color, saturation (sometimes called chroma) is the amount of color present (no saturation or chroma means the image is B & W), and brightness, which is how light or dark the color is.
• Leading- the spacing between lines
• Kerning- the space between individual letters. For example you’d want to kern a small case letter “o” to fit underneath the capital letter “T”.
• Tracking – the spacing of an entire group of letters
• Anti-aliasing- Smooths out jagged edges on graphics. This is usually an on or off option. It works by creating intermediately shaded pixels between areas of high contrast.

How can you learn to compose good graphics?

Watch your favorite TV networks and try to duplicate the graphics you see. CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other cable networks do a great job creating fresh, eye-catching and well-designed graphics.

 

 

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